Gate mechanism for cigar bunch machines



Sept 23, 1952 7 s. T. GusTAvsoN GATE MECHANSM FOR CIGAR BUNCH MACHINESFiled Feb. 15. 1947 3 Sheet5-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Sept 23, 1952 s. 1'.GUsTAvsoN 2,611,371

' GATE MECHANISM FOR CICAR BUNCH MACHINES l Filed Feb. 15. 1947 ssneetssneet 2 48 INVNTOR STERLING- T. GUSTAVSON ATrORNEY Sept- 23, 1952s. T. GUs'rAvsoN i 2,611,371

GATE MECHANSM FOR CIGAR BUNCH MACHINES Filed Feb. 15. 1947 1 l l ssheets-sheet s v /23 INJENTOR M [04 STERLING T. GUSTAVSON ATTORNEYPatented Sept. 23, 1952 GATE MECHANISM FOR CIGAR BNCH i MACHINESSterling T. Gustavson, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to International CigarMachinery Company, a Acorporation of New Jersey Application February 15,1947, Serial No. 728,904

(o1. 1er-zii Y Claims. l

This invention relates to cigar making mafiller feeds of scrap bunchcigar machines.

One of the main objects of the invention is to simplify the constructionof the mechanism for -operating the gate on the magazine containing acolumn vof tobacco from which cigar bunch charges are separated afterthe column is compacted to a predetermined density. The scrap tobacco isautomatically fed into the magazine when the gate is opened by thecoaction of the gate with the scale pan in which a weighed quantity oftobacco is accumulated. Since a quantity of tobacco, which is slightlygreater than that required for a cigar bunchcharge, is thereby 'fed fromthe scale pan into the magazine when the gate is opened, the length ofthe column will gradually increase unless the opening of the Vgate isprevented. Therefore my improved gate operating mechanism issocontrolled that the gate will not be opened when the length of thetobacco column becomes excessive.

'My improved gate operating mechanism may includean actuating memberpivotally connected to a cam lever and a pivoted member connected to thegate for opening the same. A suitable detent such as a tripping levermay be provided to maintain a pawl in a predetermined position out ofcontact with the actuating member until said lever is engaged byatripping member connected to the plunger which com-presses the tobaccocolumn. If the tripping member should engage the tripping lever duringthe compression of the tobacco column by the plunger, the pawl will bereleased and will permit Vdisplacement of the actuatingmembertransversely to a position wherein its movement A.up and down willoperate said pivoted member and thereby open and close the gate. Sincethe actuating `member is not disconnected from the pivoted `member untilthe latter portion .of its downward movement,l the gate, although it.falls into closed position, will create very little noise.

If the length of the tobacco column increases to such an extent that theplunger cannot move forwardly in the magazine sufciently to permit thetripping member to engage the tripping lever, the pawl will` not bereleased. Accordingly the actuating .member will not lbe displacedtransversely and the gate will not be opened untiljmthe length of thecolumn is suiiiciently decreased by vthe removal of bunch chargestherefrom, to permit the tripping member to engage `the .tripping leverand thereby open .the-gate.

, 'In the accompanying, drawings which form a v4part of 'this'specification Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in Section, of aportion of a cigar bunch making machine equipped with a magazine gatemechanism embodying my invention', i

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same, which is partly in section, asvseen from line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are side elevations of the control mechanism, illustratingthe successive stages in the operation ofthe same. Y

The filler feed for scrap bunch cigar machines. which is illustratedherein as equipped with my improved gate mechanism, is similar to thefiller feed disclosed in `the Durning Patent No. 2,306,381. The ller orscrap tobacco T is fed from a hopper I (Fig. 1), which is supported on Imetal leaf springs (not shown) and vibrated by suitable electro-magneticdevices such 'as shown in Patent 2,306,381, into a scale pan 3. vThescale pan 3 is similar in construction to the scale pan of Patent2,306,381 and is providedwith a'wall 5 having lugs pivoted on scalearms. supported on a scaleshait 6 supported in a bracket 'l and providedwith a threaded stud 8 on which is mounted a counterweight 9 whichbalances the scale pan and determines the amount of tobacco needed totrip it. The scale pan is also provided with a scale vreceptacle I0which is pivoted on the upper end of wall 5. The tobacco drops fromhopper I through guide shield I.I into the pocket provided between thewall 5 and the scale receptacle I0 until sufficient tobacco accumulatesto trip the scale pan. l

When the scale pan is tripped, the vibration of the hopper is stopped bymechanism described in Patent 2,306,381 and further dischargeof tobaccofrom hopper I is prevented by a vplate I2 which swings down rupon thedelivery `-end of the hopper I when the scale pan is tripped. -Duringeach cycle of the machine a predetermined amount of filler togacco isdepositedinto a-magazine I4 in a `manner hereinafter described when thescale pan is tripped. A predeterminedquantity of tobacco sufficient fora bunch charge is severed from the tobacco column A formed in magazineI4, by a lreciprocating knife I 6 and then rolled in a binder by a`rolling apron I8 to form a cigar bunch.

The construction of magazine I4 is similar to that described in PatentNo. 2,306,381. It consists of a bottom plate ,20, a pair of adjustableside plates 22 (Fig. 2), a stationarytop plate 24 overlying the frontendof plate 2.0, the y.Oscillating gate 26 and a stationary 'top plate28 overlying the rearend of platez. Top p1ates24' and 28 are mounted on`and supported by side rails 30 The plunger 32 is equipped with a rod 35slid-v ably supported in a lug 36 threaded on a member 31 supported inan operating lug 38. The operating lug 38 is pivotally supported on theupper end of lever 44. To the outer end of said plunger rod is fasteneda laterally projecting trip bar 40 (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) carrying on itsouter end an adjustable trip screw 42.

Operating lever 44 -is c'onnected by a link 46 to afcam lever48fulcrumed on a shaft 50 (Fig. 1) supported by housing 5|.

Cam lever 48 is provided with a cam follower 52 engaging a cam track ina cam 53 secured on a cam shaft 54 supported in suitable bearings ofhousing 5I. Lever 44 is pivotally connected to links 55 and 56. Link 55is pivoted on a stub shaft 51 supported in one side wall of housing 5|.Link 56 is pivoted on a bracket 58 secured to a lug 59 formed on theinner face of the same sidewall of housing 5|. The cam track of cam53has the proper configuration to impart; an oscillating motion to camlever 48 and thereby move the lever 44 to operate the plunger 32.

As lever 44 moves forward the lug 36 presses Aagainst a compressionspring 80 mounted on the plunger rod 35 and interposed between lug 36and plunger 32 and thereby moves the plunger 32 forwardly. Spring 60permits the arm 44 to complete its stroke regardlessofvariations in thelength of the tobacco column A in the magazine I4. Thus a more or lessuniform-pressure will be exerted by plunger 32 upon the tobacco columnduring each forward stroke of lever 44. Since the trip bar 40 movesforwardly with plunger rod 35 and the trip screw 42 is supported on bar40, the'screw 42 will control the operation of my improved mechanism foroperating the gate 26 of magazine I4.

The mechanism for operating the gate 2'3 includes a latch lever or latch6| which is pivoted on stud 62 and is normally held by spring 64 in theposition shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Spring`64 is anchoredto a pin onhousing 5| and is attached to a pin 66 on lever 6 I `so that theadjustable stop screw 68 on lever 6| rests against a stop 10 while anadjustable extension 60a of lever 6I holds the pawl or oscillatingmember 12 in the set position shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The pawl 12 ispivoted on a stud 13 threaded in housing 5|.

If there is insufficient tobacco in magazine I4 the trip screw 42, whenit is moved forwardly with plunger rod 35, will engage the lever 6|whereby the extension a will be disengagedfrom member 12 and the latterwill thus be tripped. In one corner of member 12 is threaded anadjustable stop screw 16 (Fig. 2) which engages with a stop 18 fastenedto housing 5| in order to limit the movement of member 12 upwardly inthe direction of the arrow in Figure 3 under the influence of springattached to a pin 8| in the opposite end of member `12 afterthe latteris tripped. When oscillating member 12 is in the set position shown byFigs.. 3 and 4, the spring 8|] connected to pin8| vonmember 12 serves tohold a wear or latch plate 82 attached to member 12 4 by screw 84against the extensionv 60a of trip lever 6|.

A link engaging device, such as a roller 86 is pivoted on a stud 88secured in pawl 12, nut 60D is released, and extension 80a is manuallyadjusted to obtain the required "set" `position of pawl 12 shown in Fig.3 wherein roller 86 is out of contact with the side of a link 90 afterwhich nut 60D is tightened. Link 90 is pivotally connected to a camlever |08 which is provided with a cam follower I I0 engaging a camtrack of a cam I I 2 secured to shaft 54. In the upper end of link 98 isan L-shaped slot 92 in which roller 94 rides. Roller 94 is pivoted on astud 96 secured in arm 96 and held in place by a washer |69 secured onstud 96. A tension spring |02 is attached to a pin |04 secured in lug|06 of link 90. Arm 98 is fixed to a shaft ||4 supported in bearings inhousing 5I If the arm 98 is turned it will actuate a lever I|6 alsofastened to shaft I4. A bell crank lever |20, which is fastenedA to theshaft ||8 to which is also fastened the gate 26, is connected by al link|22 to lever ||6. The link |22 is of conventional construction and itslength may be manually adjusted to maintain the gate 26 at the properposition when closed. Thus motion from lever ||6 will be transmitted tolever |20 for opening and closing the gate 26m a manner hereinafterdescribed, if the pawl 12 is tripped by trip screw 42.

In each cycle of the machine lever 44 moves forward and the plunger 32compresses the tobacco A in the magazine I4 while the gate 26 is closedand the link 90 is at the dotted position shown in Fig. 3. 1f there isinsufficient tobacco in column A the trip screw 42 will engage the lever6| andmove its end 60a offplate 82 of member 12 whereby spring 80 willpull pawl 12 into the tripped position shown inl Fig. 1. When pawl 12 istripped the roller 86, which engages the side of link 9|) at the dottedposition of the latter shown in Fig. 3, is moved out of contact with theside of link 90. This allows spring |02 to pull link 90 from the dottedposition shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Figfl wherein yroller94 engages abutment 9| forming an integral part of link 90 (Figure l4)of the transverse section 93 of L-slot 92 in llink 90. Therefore thelink 90 will open gate 26 when it is displaced upwardly by cam |08. u

Link 90 then travels upwardly from the position shown in Fig. 1 to thepositionv at which gate 26 is fully open (Fig. 3). During its upwardmovement lug |06 of link 90 comes in contact with relatching means, suchas an adjustable stud |23 (Figs. 2, 3v and 4) threaded in a corner ofthe oscillating member 12 opposite stop screw 16. Lug |06 thus swingsmember 12 vfrom the tripped position (Fig. 1) to the set position shownin Fig. 3 and spring 64 pulls lever 6| into position to maintain themember 12 in its set" position shown in Fig. 3. l

As link 90 is moved downwardly by cam lever |08 to swing the gate 26from its open position B to its closed position C, the side of lever 90comes into contact with roller 86 at the latter vpart of its downwardstroke whereby linkv 90 is prevented from moving horizontallyas arm 98movies roller 94 in a downward arc. The lengths of the arms 98 and |08have the proper proportions to causef the link 90 to engage theroller 86at this portion of its downward stroke and be swung about its pivotalconnection to cam lever |08. Consequently roller 94 moves forwardly out0f the transverse portion of L-slot 92 to the top "of 'the' longitudinal.section ss or the not 'sa 4as show-n. at the dotted positionvoflinkilin Figf. 4riil-ienthe magazine 154requiresan'additional charge o'ftobacco and the scale pan '3 vhas been-iilled with the'required weightof tobacco,

the 'gate 26 swings upward'in the "direction 'inpermitted todisoharge'through a guide chu-te into tlie magazine I4. This guide`chute comprises a pair'fof spaced stationary guide walls |126 and`a'swinging end wall |24, the gate 2'6 forming-the other end wall ofthis guidechute. Wall |24 lis secured to-a flange |33 mounted on a shaft|32 supported in bracket 7. A' lever |34 fastened -on'shaft |32 isconnected byea'link |36 to a lever |138 secured on shaft I3. 'Since theconstruction and operation of the guide chute is similar to thatdescribed in 'Patent 2,306,381, further description thereof is deemedunnecessary.

In order to prevent the scale pan from swinging upwardly as soon as itscharge is dumped, the shaft |32 is provided with a lug |40 which duringthe upward motion of the gate 2G engages with a roller |42 on a lug |44mounted on scale shaft 6. The scale pan is thus held from swing- 1 ingupwardly while the gate 26 is in an upright position. This arrangementprevents the vibration of 4hopper from resuming and feeding a Anew'charge before the magazine gate 26 is closed and is fully described inPatent 2,306,381. As gate 26 disengages prong |28 during its downwardmotion, the scale receptacle I0 will, due to its own weight, swing backand contact wall 5 again, and the scale pan is ready to receive a newcharge of tobacco.

The amount of tobacco Ain magazine I4 steadily increases due to anexcess of tobacco in each charge dumped by the scale pan until theforward motion of reciprocating plunger 32 is restricted to the pointwhere tripping stud 42 does not move forwardly far enough to trip lever6I. Consequently extension Elia of lever 6I remains in contact with thewear plate 82 on the oscillating member 'I2 and retains member 'I2 inits set position C, Fig. 3. In this cycle, when cam lever I 08 moveslink 90 upwardly, the roller 94 remains in the longitudinal section 95of the slot 92 while link 90 moves upwardly from the dotted position(Fig. 3) to the position shown in Fig. 4. Therefore no motion isimparted to arm 98, and as a result gate 2E remains closed and nofurther addition of tobacco to magazine I4 is made. Each time thetobacco charge is removed from the magazine the plunger moves fartherforward until such a time as stud 42 again trips lever 60 and therebypermits the gate to be opened and admit more tobacco into the magazine.

What is claimed is:

l. In a cigar machine, the combination with a magazine containing acolumn of tobacco, of

a gate pivotally mounted on said magazine and' forming a part of onewall thereof when closed, a reciprocable plunger within said magazineadapted to compress the tobacco therein, means for moving said plungerforwardly in said magazine to compress the tobacco column therein, an

actuator connected to said gate and adapted to open said gate to permittobacco to be delivered to said magazine, a roller connected to saidactuflater, 'a-link" having an Lshaped Aslot' engaging said'rollen saidslot havingatransverse portion extending transversely? of said link anda longitardi-nalVv portion extending longitudinally of said link,an'voscillating member, a latch -flever, ea latchwplate on saidoscillating member, a `device on saidfoscillating member operativewhensaid l"latc',`hlever engages said latch plate to' maintain`s'afiddevice inengagement with said .linkffand 'restrict thefmovementof 'said roller to Lsaid `-longitudinal portion-0f 'said slot, meansoperated 'by said plunger loperating means for moving 'said 'latch lever'to unlatching 'position lrelative to saidlatch plate and effectthermovementw'if said device -on said `oscillating member "away 'fromlsaid link, means Aoperative substantially lsimul'taneously with themovement of said-device :out of lengagement with said link tofdi'splac'ers'aid Vlink transversely to position said roller in said transverseportion of `said slot, f and 'mechalnism Vfor movingsaid linklongitudinally whereby said-actuator -will be operated and said jg'atewill 'be' opened when said 'roller engages the transverse .portion'ofsaid slot. l'

2. 'In ya -cigar Vmachine, the combination-'with Kamagazinecontaining acolumn .of tobaccopof a'- gate pivotally mounted on' said -magazinefandfforminga part of one wall thereofwhen closed, an actuator-connectedto'said gate'andadapted lto open said'gate to permit tobacco 'tofbedelivered to said magazine, a roller connected "to 'said kactuatona linkhaving, an 1L-shaped -slot engaging sai'droller, said slot including atransverse portion extending vtransversely of said link and alongitudinal portion extending longitudinally of said link, a device formoving said link transversely to permit said roller to engage and belocated in said transverse portion of said slot, and mechanism formoving said link longitudinally whereby said actuator will be operatedand said gate will be opened when said roller engages the transverseportion of said slot.

3. In a cigar machine, the combination with a magazine containing acolumn of tobacco, of a gate pivotally mounted on said magazine andforming a part of one wall thereof when closed, means for compressingthe tobacco in said magazine, an actuator connected to said gate andadapted when displaced to open said gate to permit tobacco to bedelivered to said magazine, a link having an L-shaped slot, the base ofthe L forming an integral part thereof and abutment on said link adaptedto engage and displace said actuator to open said gate to permit tobaccoto be delivered to said magazine, mechanism normally maintaining saidabutment of said link out of engagement with said actuator, including adevice operated by said tobacco-compressing means when tobacco is to bedelivered to said magazine for moving said link transversely to engagesaid abutment with said actuator, and mechanism operative after saidabutment is in engagement with said actuator for moving said linklongitudinally whereby said actuator will be displaced and said gatewill be opened for delivery of a quantity of tobacco into said magazine.

4. In a cigar machine, the combination with a magazine containing acolumn of tobacco, of a gate pivotally mounted on said magazine andforming a part of one wall thereof when closed, a reciprocable plungerwithin said magazine adapted to compress the tobacco therein, means formoving said plunger forwardly in said magazine to compress the tobaccocolumn therein, an

actuator connected to said gate and adapted to 7 open said gate topermit tobacco to be delivered to said magazine, a roller connected tosaid actuator, a link having an L-shaped slot engaging psaid roller,said slot having a transverse portion extending transversely of saidlink and a longitudinal portion extending longitudinally of saidlink,rmechanism normally restricting the movement of said roller to saidlongitudinal portion of said-slot, said mechanism including a deviceengaging said link,'an oscillating member supporting said device, and alatch engaging said member to maintain said device in' engagement withsaid link, means operated by said plunger operating means for displacingsaid latch relative to said member, means for moving said unlatchedmemberto position said device out of engagement with said link,l meansoperative substantially simultaneously with the unlatching of saidmember for moving said link transversely to position said roller in said`transverse portion of said slot, mechanism forv moving said linklongitudinally whereby said actuator Will be operated and said gate willbe opened when said roller engages the transverse portion of said slot,and relatching means carried by said link operativeafter the delivery ofa predetermined quantity of tobacco to said magazine for relatching saidlatch and member thereby effecting the displacement of 'said roller outof said transverse slot portion and .relocating it for movement in saidlongitudinal slot portion.

5. In a cigar machine, the combination with a magazine containing acolumn of tobacco, of a normally closed gate on said magazine adapted tobe moved to open position to permit tobacco to be delivered into saidmagazine, a plunger adapted vto compress said tobacco column in saidmagazine, means for operating said plunger to compress said tobaccocolumn, a pivoted member connected to said gate to move said gate tosaid open position, a cam lever, an actuating member pivotally mountedon said cam lever, said actuating member having an L-shaped slot, thebase of the L forming an integral part thereof and adapted to engage andoperate said pivoted member when said actuating member is displacedtransversely about its pivotal connection on said cam lever, a cam foroperating said actuating member to displace said actuating memberlongitudinally after said transverse displacement, andmechanism-operated by said plunger operating means for displacing saidactuating member transversely about its pivotal connection on said earnlever and thereby positioning said abutment of said actuating member inoperative engagement with said pivoted member whereby said gate Will beopened to permit tobacco to be delivered to said magazine.

STERLING T. GUSTAVSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date y 2,306,381 Durning Dec. 29. 19422,426,944 Mueller Sept. 2, 1947

